Two cultures are coming together to celebrate their Patron Saint, St. Andrew on Friday, Dec. 1.
North Okanagan Pipes and Drums (NOPD) and the Sadok Ukrainian Dance Ensemble are putting on a show for St. Andrew’s Day at 7 p.m. in the Schubert Centre’s Emerald Room.
Saint Andrew’s Day, also called the Feast of Saint Andrew or Andermas, is the feast day of Andrew the Apostle. It is celebrated on Nov. 30 (according to Gregorian calendar) and on Dec. 13 (according to Julian calendar).
NOPD and Sadok will entertain the guests with an amazing program of traditional Scottish tunes and Ukrainian dances which include Pryvit (Welcome Dance) and their trademark finale, Hopak, among others.
The North Okanagan Pipes and Drums formed on Nov. 21, 2012, when a group of musicians wanted to create a group that was more family oriented, more relaxed and just out to serve the community and take a much different direction that most pipe bands traditionally take.
The band started with a very small group of four pipers and two drummers but quickly grew to 37 members. It now boasts 22 musicians: 12 pipers, two bass drummers, four tenor drummers, three snares and one lifetime member.
The 50/50 ration of men and women wear the Ancient Macbeth tartan with Bonnie Prince Charlie Jackets and Glengarry bonnets.
The band practices once a week and most members take private lessons to enhance their musical skills. The Band performs on average once a month at community events, parades, seniors residences and is planning a trip this season to Hamilton Montana for a Celtic Festival.
Active members range in age from 21 to 74, and there are a couple young children who have just started taking lessons and may join the group next year some.
“All in all, this is the most enjoyable group I have ever been involved with” said Pipe Major Don MacLeod, who started learning pipes at six-years-old, tracing his piping heritage back through seven generations to his great, great, great, great, great grandfather Donald MacQuarrie, The Great Piper of Eigg.
Don grew up in the shadow of his father and the amazing Powell River Company Pipe Band, learning this traditional music from the best in the country at that time.
He joined a new youth pipe band in 1965, The Highland Laddie Pipe Band - one of the top youth bands in B.C., competing through the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island and taking memorable trips to Expo 67 in Montreal and Expo 70 in Osaka Japan.
Don moved to Vernon in 1999 and joined the local pipe band shortly thereafter. He was shortly voted in as pipe major and grew the band from its modest 19 members to a thriving band of 47 members which included a youth pipe band with 27 members of the 2012 registration.
At that time, people with a “better idea” took over the band and Don left the group.
When several others, both youth and adult left, Don was asked to start a different group, one more family oriented, so on Nov. 21, 2012, the North Okanagan Pipes and Drums was born.
Don loves to teach the pipes and has taught many locals to play and love the bagpipes as much as he does.
Children as young as six and adults as old as 67 have started their journeys in bagpipes with varying interests in what level they want to learn, from wanting to be a top competitor to just wanting to play the pipes for their own enjoyment and every interest in between.
Don also writes tunes and puts harmony together for his band and you will likely see him around town, either piping from his downtown rooftop garden or at a wedding, funeral, birthday party or anywhere there is some fun happening.
He hopes to continue with his bagpipe passion well into the future.
The Sadok Ukrainian Dance Ensemble is a local dance theatre troupe that continually pushes the boundaries of this unique art form by entertaining and educating their audience about their beautiful Ukrainian Canadian Heritage.
They have performed throughout the Okanagan Valley, Vancouver, Alberta and Los Angeles, California. Their travels have taken them to Ukraine three times, most recently to the Ukrainian International Dance Festival in 2018. In March of 2008 they performed at Disneyland, California where they shared their culture with the world. In 2013, Sadok returned to Ukraine to once again enjoy the beautiful country, visit family and study dance at the Yunist Dance Ensemble studio at the Palace of Culture in Lviv. In 2014, the Ensemble was the guest performers at the Cultural Showcase at the Vegreville Ukrainian Pysanky Festival in Alberta. In 2016 Sadok was the guest performers at the Vancouver Greek Festival.
This vibrant and colourful style of dance is always enjoyed by audiences of both Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians alike!
Sadok’s founder, choreographer, and artistic director Andrea Malysh has had over 40 years Ukrainian Folk Dance and ethnographic studies. She has had the privilege to work with other professional instructors and regional experts in Canada, Australia and Ukraine.
In 2006, Malysh was awarded a diploma from the School of Choreography at the Virsky National University of Arts and Culture in Kyiv, Ukraine.
NOPD and Sadok invites all to an evening of Scottish and Ukrainian music and dance.
Admission at the door is $20 for adults and $15 for children and includes coffee/tea/sweets. A cash bar will be available.
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